Action will be taken against Mayawati if she is behind Saharanpur clashes: UP minister

Ghaziabad: Intelligence agencies are probing the Saharanpur caste clashes and "stringent" action will be initiated against BSP supremo Mayawati if she was found complicit in the conspiracy, Uttar Pradesh minister Rajendra Pratap Singh said on Thursday.

File image of BSP leader Mayawati. PTI

A Dalit man had died in a caste clash soon after Mayawati's visit to Saharanpur in the troubled district on 23 May.

"Intelligence agencies are probing the root cause of the violence. In case Mayawati is found to be behind the conspiracy of Saharanpur clashes, stringent action will be taken against her by the state government," Singh said.

Interacting with mediapersons in Ghaziabad, Singh, who is the state minister for Rural Engineering department said that "violence had broken out after Mayawati's Saharanpur visit".

He also attacked the BSP chief claiming she was frustrated over losing her vote bank.

"The BJP has benefited and this is the reason she is conspiring to defame the Yogi government," the minister alleged.

Mayawati had visited Saharanpur on 23 May, to meet the victims of violence that had broken out earlier that month. However, fresh violence erupted the same day in which one person, who was returning after attending the BSP chief's event, died.

Mayawati has also attacked the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state over the violence and held the state administration responsible.

Talking about the law and order issue in the state, Singh said that the mentality of the police needs positive change.

He claimed that crime was not rising in the state.

It is 14-year-old garbage that cannot be cleaned in such short period, he added, taking a pot-shot at opposition parties which had earlier held power in the state.